Heart of the Violinist
by Rammina
Summary: This is the story of a girl who rarely trusts anyone. The boy knows the girl. He loves the girl. The boy is a player. The girl doesn't like the boy. Comes see the adventures of a girl who learns to trust and a boy who learns to love and be faithful.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was 7a.m. Monday morning when her alarm clock startled nineteen-year-old Melina out of her sleep. She got up out of bed to get ready for school. She made her bed, brushed her teeth, washed her face, combed her hair, had a quick breakfast, and made her way out the door. Melina was an African-American college student who was hoping that maybe her top of the line education would be the key to a better, brighter future for her mother and herself. She had always been a hard worker and one of the best students in her class, despite being at a financial disadvantage her whole life. Even though her mother owned a small restaurant that had its loyal customers they had never had any real money. Her life's order had always been described go to school, come home and help mama in the restaurant until six or seven o' clock, do homework, take a bath, and go to bed. Even now her life had little change. The only things different were that she lived in Alabama, not Mississippi, in a small apartment ,not a house, close to relatives but alone. But amongst it all the only thing she had ever wanted to do was play the violin. It had been a hidden talent and passion that she had found the summer before she entered sixth grade. That summer a new music shop opened in the area. She had simply wondered in one day since she had nothing else to do. It was one of few days she had allowed herself to enjoy since she always pushed herself to help her mother even though her mother had given her the freedom to be what she was; a child. The bell hanging over the doorway chimed as she entered the seemingly small shop. The white woman behind the counter gently smiled at her. She was dressed in an off-black sleeveless dress. Melina thought the woman's attire strange considering it was the middle of summer and that everyone else was wearing the lightest colors they could find while here she was wearing black.

The next thing Melina saw the strangely dressed woman do was hold out her arms to either side of her, palms open to the sky and say,

"Welcome to The House of Music! How may I help you?

Surprised by the woman's sudden outburst Melina stuttered out, "Oh, uh, I was just looking."

"All right then. Let me know if you need anything," the woman replied.

By now Melina was left to her own devices. As she wondered through the shop looking at all the different instruments, books, and merchandise. The store seemed to contain every instrument ever created. She touched, held, and took note of each and every instrument she saw, but there was one instrument that she took more time with. 'This instrument is beautiful', she thought. The more time she spent with the mysterious object the more fond of it she became. 'It looks like a mini guitar only this neck-like stick seems to curl. How weird. What kind of instrument is this?' After a few more moments of exploration of the instrument she finally turned around and asked the woman at the counter

"What's this instrument called?" "It's called the violin," she answered. "It's beautiful," Melina commented. "Yes, it is", the woman agreed. "Would you like to learn how to play?" the woman asked Melina. "What's your name and how much?" she answered. "First lesson's free and the name's Sarah," Sarah replied. "Nice to meet you Ms. Sarah. My name is Melina and sure one lesson couldn't hurt." And so for the next seven years she continued her studies as a young violinist. As she matured so did her dreams of one day becoming a famous concert musician. That was the past though. Now she had set her sights on the more practical career of being a lawyer.

Walking into class ten minutes to 8 she took her seat in the third row from the bottom. "Good morning Melina," someone greets her in a husky voice from behind. When she turned she saw

twenty-one-year-old, brown complexioned, Damien Kole. Damien twirled her shoulder length hair around his index finger as she answered with slight annoyance "Good morning, Damien." Damien Kole was known for being the pimp on campus. He had found it easy to get into every female bed on campus. Melina was one of the few women who had yet to give in to his charms. She was a challenge and she fascinated him. "So what are you doing later?" Damien asked suggestively. "Why?" Melina countered. "I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner with me? I do so hate to dine alone." he said putting on the most provocative smile he could with hopes that she would bite the bait that most women jumped at. But then again Melina wasn't most women. Despite his reputation, which was true on all counts, Damien had fallen for Melina's charm. An aspect of herself she probably didn't even know she had. He loved her ability to seem quiet, conservative and reserved but at the same time sexy, smart and strong. Whether she knew it or not an air of untapped sensuality always surrounded her. But that's not even close to the reason why he wanted to be the first to awaken the sleeping passion within her. He wanted to offer her something that he had only half- way dangled in the other women's faces; a long-term, faithful relationship. He knew she was too smart to fall for the same things the other mindless women did, but he still felt that if he tried a few of his old seduction tricks that maybe he could show her a different side of him and he could see the sexy side of her. "Well, you know it's not healthy to skip meals. Nor is it healthy to be lonely," Damien offered. "I understand that, so what's your point?" Melina asked. "My point is why don't we both stay healthy and eat together?" he answered. "Really," she shot back. "Yes. I would love to see you outside of class sometime." She stared at him before she said anything. "First of all, Damien I don't skip meals and I'm not lonely. Second, I thought you had girlfriend already. Third, I'm not in to one night stands. And fourth, because of your reputation I don't want to go out with you." Damien had to admit to himself she was right about his reputation. It didn't exactly promise a long term relationship. Regardless of that, it was exactly what he wanted with her. The other women were simply occupations of his time. A hobby to keep college eventful, but something even he tired of from time to time. Melina waited for a reply from him. It was all true, even though she wished it wasn't. If it had not been for his reputation for going around having sex with anything that had a vagina and walked she would have taken him up on his offer. The weird thing about his charms had been the fact that even after his one-night stands had ended the women still wanted him. That above all confused her because after that night he never spoke to them again. For him ,it seemed to her, had always been a gamecalled "Chase 'em Love 'em Leave 'em". She like all the rest of the girls had admired him from afar. With his bright, prospective future ahead of him and to-die-for good looks any woman would want him. She wanted him too but wouldn't tell him that. She couldn't tell him that! If she told him she would be giving him permission to do to her what he did to the other, which wouldn't be so bad if she didn't already know he was going to use her and leave her.

"You've made some very good points," Damien finally answered, "but did you ever consider that I might want to go on a serious date?" He tried. She didn't answer. She averted her gaze

'She can tell I'm tell I'm trying to be honest,' Damien thought to himself.

"Honestly?" she finally replied. "No."

With that she turned back around as class began.

Author's Note: Yes!!! I finally did it!!! Does victory dance Sorry everybody. I'm just glad that I finally got my first chapter posted. Hey! Don't be scared tell me what you think! Besides, I need a beta reader so, If there's anyone out there who would like to offer their services tell me in your review or get my email address from my profile and give me a shout!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The characters are creations from my mind alone. The situations are of my life and my mind so steal my mind and my life and prepare yourself for a heck of a lawsuit!

Chapter2

By 3 that afternoon she had finished her classes without mishap, but her mind continued to go back and forth from that morning to the present. She kept thinking 'What would have happened if I had gone on that date with him? Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if I had given in a little to my own feelings of wanting as well as his. But then again that's probably just a stupid hope.' She had just finished her thought when she walk into a popular local Italian restaurant called Pertolli's Plaza and took her post as waitress.

By now Damien too had finished his classes. He was back at his frat house watching TV although not actually paying attention. Instead he was thinking about Melina. 'Why didn't she trust him? It wasn't like he was a snake or a wolf or anything; he wasn't going to bite her.' Still, though, that was how she acted, like he was something or someone who couldn't be trusted. Her words and actions confused him. One minute she's spitting fire at him and the next she looked like she wanted to rip his clothes off him but of course by the time that minute was up she was back to hating him. After a few more moments of pondering the mystery that was Melina Johnson, he decided to clear his mind by going to his favorite restaurant, Pertolli's Plaza. He loved the restaurant for its window view of the Mississippi river and for its peaceful atmosphere. He always went there whenever he had a problem or when there was a piece of homework that he just couldn't grasp. Melina may not have been homework but she sure couldn't understand her.

When he walked though the door a female employee wearing black uniform pants, a red button-up shirt and a name tag that read "Kristy" greeted him saying

"Welcome back, Mr. Kole."

"Thank you, Kristy. Is my regular booth open?"

"I'm afraid not, sir. We got full and pretty much had seat people where ever we could stick them."

"Well are there any tables available?"

Yes, sir, but are you sure you want one, I mean, since it won't be your normal table?"

"Yes."

Kristy led him to a simple black square table with a single black chair sitting under it.

"Your waiter or waitress should be with you shortly," she said as she left him with a menu. Minutes after, a female voice sounded

"Welcome to Pertolli's Plaza. May I take your order?" He looked up from the menu in his hands and couldn't believe what he was seeing! It was Melina Johnson with an order book in her hand, black uniform pants, red button-up shirt, that was the Pertolli's Plaza uniform, and name tag with her first and last name printed on its front and her hair in a high pony-tail! Watching her flip through the small note book, his mouth almost dropped, but he caught himself just in time to make up his mind about what to say.

Melina decided her customer was taking to long to answer so she finally looked up from the pad in her hands. She was dumbfounded when she saw just who her customer was.

"Hello, again, Melina," Damien said rather pleased with this shocking turn of events.

"What are you doing here?!" Melina said more a little louder than she intended. Embarrassed she stuttered,

"I - I - I mean ..." Then she finally sighed

"Dammit!" Damien smiled at her amused at her obvious shock.

Author's Note: Hello everybody! Well this is the second chapter. Short, I know. But here's the thing, I've been seriously busy lately and to top that off a terrible case of writer's block. Maybe the next chapter will be longer. Remember; don't be afraid to tell me what you think! Tata 4 now!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The characters are creations of my own mind. The situations are of my life and my mind so if you steal my life and my mind prepare yourself for a heck of lawsuit.

Chapter 3

"All right what the hell are you doing here?! Are you stalking me?" Melina asked defensively.

"Stalking? No, of course not. I always come here but in all my visits, I must say I've never seen you here. How long have you been working here." Damien asked his interest piqued.

Melina chose to ignore his question and asked with all the courtesy she could muster at the moment

"What did you want to order, sir?"

Damien chuckled at her and answered " How about your chicken fettuccini and broccoli."

"And to drink?"Melina asked as she scribbled his order in the notebook.

"Sweet Tea."

"Coming right up."

"Alright then, I'll be awaiting your return." Damien said with a sexy twang in his voice.

'Fat chance that I'll come back,' Melina thought, ' I have to find someone to take over his table for me. Maybe Yazlyn will.'

Yazlyn was a light skinned twenty-year-old young woman who was Melina's cousin, went to the same college with Melina and stay in the same dorm with her. She was also the one to turn Melina on to Pertolli's in the first place, something that Melina now regretted.

"Yazlyn," Melina called, "Yazlyn, do you see the table I was just at?"

"Yeah. So?"

"I need you to take over that table for me" Melina whispered to her.

"Why, what's wrong?" Yazlyn asked getting worried. "Has he hurt you or something?" she then said becoming defensive and protective over her one month younger cousin.

"No, it's nothing like that," Melina assured her, "Do you remember the guy I told you I liked?" Yazlyn nodded.

"Well that's him."

"Wait, I'm confused. Explain to me why you don't want to use this opportunity to get closer to him."

"You know why. I feel weird around him and besides he's a player. I don't want to like a player."

"But you do and there's nothing wrong with that. You never know, maybe he likes you too."

"I doubt it." It was then that Yazlyn got frustrated with Melina.

"You say that about every guy you like! Why are you always doubting yourself when it comes to guys?! You know you're beautiful so why do you keep telling yourself you're not?! You have a body most women including myself would kill for. So what's the problem?"

"Well not all of that is true," Melina said, defending herself," This time I just don't trust him not to hurt me"

" Getting hurt is part of finding love. Sometimes you needed to get hurt to know what love truly is. Besides, you're going to have to trust someone eventually."

"I know."

Yazlyn finally sighed, "Look, take his drink to him and I'll take over from there."

"Thank you so much, Yazlyn!" she exclaimed with relief hugging her sister-like cousin.

"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, what are cousins for."

Melina made Damien's sweet tea and hurried to take it to him.

"Did you just get snapped on by your boss?" Damien asked when she got there.

"No. That was my cousin."

"Whatever you said must have made her hot. I think I can still see steam coming out of her ears." Melina smiled at that not allowing herself the bursting laughter that was threatening to spill from her mouth. She didn't want to lose face, after all.

" Well she can be temperamental at times but I know she always means well whenever she gets mad at me so of course I love her for it. She's sort of the close sister I never had."

"Close sister?"

"Yeah. I have four half-siblings on my dad's side but we're not close. We've always lived apart from each other with out mothers." Damien could believe his ears anymore than he could his eyes. She smiled at something he'd said and she was sharing her past with him! Unbelievable!

"Well your food should be here soon." She said catching herself before gave away anymore information about her life.

Damien turned his attention away from Melina retreating form and toward the window across the room. He found it amazing that even with as busy as the restaurant was the river was still able to give the diners a peaceful experience. His thoughts once again turned to Melina. How fortunate it was to have stumbled upon her place of work. He now had something more than the serene atmosphere to look forward to when he came; he had a chance to watch her. It was almost as if GOD Himself was pushing them together. Just then someone interrupted his thoughts, "Hey."

"Uh, hi.

"Here's your food."

The person who interrupted his thoughts was none other Melina's temperamental cousin. Damien suddenly began to wonder what Melina had told her about him, if anything at all.

"Thanks," he said looking for Melina on the sly.

"I guess you're looking for Melina, right?" she asked reading his mind.

" Yeah. She was my waitress. Where is she?"

"Oh, she's a little busy right now. Speaking of Melina, do you like my cousin?"

"Uh, what,"

"Do you like Melina? Honestly."

"Yeah, I do."

"She's told me all about your rep, so you'll understand my next question."

"You mean will I treat her right if I was with her, right?"

"Yes, that includes everything from open doors to staying faithful."

"Yes, of course." Yazlyn stared at him for a while. Judging if he was lying to her or not. She saw that he wasn't and carried on with the plan she had made the minute she agreed to take Damien's table for Melina. She called it "Operation: Matchmaker".

"Look, I'm going to help you with Melina."

"Really?" Damien asked with disbelief.

"Yeah. I want my cousin to find true love and I think she can find it in you."

"Why do you think that? I mean it's not every day a girl tries to set up her sisterly cousin with a well-known player."

"I'm getting good vibes from you. How did you know we are like sisters?"

"I managed to get something about her past out of Melina earlier. You know, that was the first time she had ever told me anything about herself."

"You make it sound like she didn't even tell you her name."

"She didn't,"

"Damn! What happened?"

"When I asked her she said 'Give me one reason why a respectable young woman like me would give her name to a man with a reputation like yours,' and before I could answer she walked away."

"Damn! Well, that's my cousin for ya."

"No kidding."

"So how did you get it?"

"I had to ask around and listen in class whenever the professor called on her." Yazlyn shook her head. "Can you tell me why she's so... angrily cautious?"

"I think I know why, but I think it would be best if she told you herself."

"I see,"

"Okay on to business. Do you have a free schedule tonight?"

"Yeah. Why?

"Because you're staying to take Melina home. I would normally go home with her but I'm going to call my fiancé and tell him to pick me up for looks and I'll tell Melina that I have a date."

"Yeah but how are we going to get her to let me drop her off?"

"I'll tell her I'd rather her go home with someone she knows than alone. It's a fool-proof plan because she already knows it's true."

" Sounds good to me! Would it be alright if I tried convince her to go somewhere with me before I drop her off?"

"Why are you asking? That's the whole point of this."

"You're so protective of her. I just didn't want you mad at me or anything."

"Oh, okay. Of course you can take her out. I got to go before she comes to this side and sees us still talking."

"Be back later." Twenty minutes later Damien had finished eating and Yazlyn had come back to check on him.

"Finished?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now you can either order something else or you can pay your bill and go sit outside on the deck over looking the river."

"I'm going to the deck. It'll give me a chance to work up my own plan."

"Okay." The hours went by and customers came and left. By the restaurant's 7:00 closing Damien had figured out what to do and what to say. All he could do now was pray it worked. As he sat on the comfortable lounge chair on the deck he looked inside the restaurant and decided now was the time to make his entrance. Melina was the first to see him. She was so shocked to see him; her mouth dropped open and continued to stare at him.

"You know, you'll catch flies like that." Melina snapped herself out of her shook and asked once again, "What are you doing here?" She ignored his last comment. It was then that Yazlyn walked out of the back where employees store their belongings.

"I asked him to stay."

"Why?" Melina cried.

"Because I have a date with Ryan tonight and I don't want you going home alone."

"Yazlyn, you may be my older cousin but I'm not a child. I can take care of myself; believe it or not."

"That may be so but we promised our mothers we'd look out for each other when we left for college and that's what I'm going to do."

"When you put it that way, I don't have any other choice." She sighed in defeat. Melina turned to Damien and asked "You'll take me straight home right?"

Why wouldn't I?"

Melina gave him a suspicious look but Damien only gave her an innocent smile. They then heared a knock on the front door. It was Ryan, Yazlyn's fiancé. Yazlyn rushed to the door unlocked it and swung it wide open." Hey, Baby," she says and greeted him with a hug and a fierce kiss. "What's up, Baby?"

"Sorry to interrupt but, Damn at least let the boy through the door first, then tongue him down!" Melina said. Ryan apologized for their antics and walked inside. "What's up, Melina," Ryan greeted.

"Hey Ryan."

"How's my little sister?"

"I'm fine."

"Good. Can your big bro have a hug, then?" Melina walked to Ryan and hugged him. Damien watched this and wondered why it made him particularly angry to watch Melina hugging a guy that wasn't him, even if he was her cousin's fiancé and they were play brother and sister. Ryan's eyes finally turned to Damien,

"What's up, man," Ryan said shaking Damien's hand.

" Nothing. What's up wit you?"

"Came to get my woman, take her out. Have some fun, you know the deal," Ryan replied wrapping his arm around Yazlyn's shoulders." I take you're lil' sis's new man?"

"Not yet. Soon to be."

"For real?"

"Damien, don't lie. It's not attractive." Melina interrupted once again.

"Damn," Ryan laughed shaking his head. Then he turned to Yazlyn and said "You ready, baby?"

"Just need to get my purse."

"Well, hurry up. The night awaits us!"

Yazlyn peeled herself from Ryan's side and pulled Melina to the back room with her.

"So," Ryan began, "what's the deal with you and lil' sis?"

"I've been trying to get her to go out with me for months now, but, she always says 'No'. Do you know why? Other than her thinking that I'll play her the way I played the other girls, I can't come up with anything else."

"That's reason enough, fool! That alone is a good enough reason for her not to give you a second glance let alone date you!"

"Yeah, I know," Ryan sighed and shook his head.

"Tell me why she should date you."

Because I'm tired of the same old game. I want a real relationship. I want a woman like her. She's caring for her friends and family, loyal, smart, and beautiful and when I finally do take my girlfriend home to meet my mama I want to be proud to have her on my arm. I think she's that woman. She's the kind of woman I want to marry and be faithful to; to have my children."

"All right, then. Yazlyn and I have decided to help you but if you hurt her I will personally break both your legs."

"I understand and thank you both. Do you know what Melina likes?"

"She loves to laugh. She loves cheese pizza, Chinese food and, Hershey's milk chocolate. She also likes poetry.

"Cool. I'll use that info in my plan."

"You just remember what I told you. I don't care what info you use. Here she comes act natural. Ready, Baby?"

"Yeah, I'm ready. Have fun, Melina!" Melina gave her cousin a confused look but Yazlyn just winked at her and strolled out with Ryan's arm around her waist.

"Ready?" asked Damien.

"Yeah." Melina answered.

Author's Note: If there's anybody out there reading this thank you for your time. I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of "Heart of the Violinist". I also hope it was long enough. Please review!


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